Chinese language learning , the best tips

Answers: Chinese tones are usually challenging for the beginning-level Mandarin learners. There are several suggestions for you on Chinese tones: First of all, memorize, memorize, and memorize. Try to remember the Chinese tones as much as possible. The tone chart (see below) and hand signals help you remember how four tones are pronounced. Find some simple Chinese audios and listen to them. These options can expose your ears to native speaking Chinese. Practice makes perfect. Grasp every opportunity to speak with native Chinese people. Read Chinese words or short stories aloud and try to hear the words to reinforce your memory. Record yourself and play it back later, and ask yourself: "how does it sound?" Or you can get a tutor directly from China. She/he can help you get accustomed to the tones that are crucial to communicating in Mandarin Chinese. The Four Tones in Mandarin Chinese There are four tones in the Chinese language: the first tone, the second tone, the third tone and the fourth tone. The first tone has a high and even pitch. The second tone has a rising pitch while the third tone has a pitch that falls and then rises. The fourth tone, as the name implies, has a dropping pitch. You may wonder why there are four tones in Chinese. Chinese is a tonal language with four pitched tones. The reason for having these tones is probably that the Chinese language has a limited number of possible syllables -- approximately 400 -- while English has about 12,000. For this reason, there may be more homophonic words in Chinese than in most other languages. Apparently, tones help the relatively small number of syllables to multiply. Now you can understand how the Chinese people use only one syllable "da" and yet can tell the difference between "to hang over" (搭 dā), "to answer"(答dá), "to hit" (打dǎ),and "big"(大 dà). Yes, the secret lies in the tones. The tones determine the meaning of the word or syllable. For example: "睡觉" (shuì jiào) means "sleep," but "水饺" (shuǐ jiǎo) means "dumplings."
More Chinese tones! >> [ Last edited by jennifer at 11-20 2009 11:17 ]

In our daily lives, people who learn Mandarin are always looking for an efficient and fun way to master Mandarin Chinese. Are you worried about how to use what you have learned from your Chinese courses Well, let me introduce a fun way to you: try ordering Chinese food by speaking Mandarin Chinese to the restaurant staff. You might feel embarrassed, but I believe that they'll respect you for trying out your new Mandarin skills. This will give you some good Mandarin practice, and you'll still get some great Chinese food. Almost everyone will go out to a restaurant at some point, so everybody should have the chance to practice. This is especially suitable for children because Chinese for Children requires being vivid and fun. In this way, the children can review their Chinese courses easily. In this way, learning Mandarin can bring you a lot of fun.

From A Learner's View: Common Chinese Mistakes
When learning a new language there are literally hundreds of things you can do wrong. With a good teacher you can learn how to overcome your difficulties. Everyone makes many mistakes but some mistakes are more common than others. Here is a list of some of the easiest mistakes to make when trying to master Chinese.
The tones "-" "/" "∨" "＼". There are 4 of them plus a neutral tone (no tone). These can be fantastically difficult to learn without help; that's the bad news. The good news is that for a learner of Chinese - at least at the beginner level - a student can create potentially meaningful communication without them. Why? This is because Chinese is heavily dependent on the context for understanding meaning. Phonetically speaking Chinese is a VERY small language i.e. everything sounds like everything else - that is actually part of the purpose for using the tones. As a beginner your lack of tones will be interpreted for what it is - your limited knowledge and as such the Chinese will endeavor to interpret your meaning. But it has limitations. For instance the pin yin (Romanization of Chinese characters) sound 'shi' (pronounced like English 'sure' but shorter) has - I checked - 41 pages of different means in the modern Chinese dictionary. So the importance of tones along with context cannot be overstated.
A really smart student would choose a language school that would teach their students the tones right from the start. That school and their teachers would also re-enforce this new skill with frequent practice and LIVE real-time error correction. As it turns out eChineseLearning is just such a school. Their teachers are all highly qualified Chinese language instructors that will teach you standard pronunciation.
An excellent example of the challenge tones presents can be found with the antonyms 'buy' and 'sell'. In Chinese they have the same pin yin - mai (pronounced 'my') but with different tones. 'Buy' is mai with the 3rd tone and sell is mai with the 4th tone. When learning to use money or go shopping a necessary skill for the business person and tourist a learner needs to know the tones or there may be some confusion. You can imagine the hilarity that would ensue if you walked into a store and started telling the manager you wanted to sell of his/her goods because you were mispronouncing the word and therefore your meaning. Fortunately Chinese people are aware of these things and will laugh knowingly at this beginner's mistake. Because eChineseLearning's teachers are all trained they will help you avoid this kind of confusion.
Another common Chinese pronunciation mistake includes the similarity of the initial Chinese sounds (Chinese sounds are divided into initials and finals and the endless recombination of them makes up the lexis of the language). For the instance the easiest ones to mistake include: ch-q/zh-j/sh-x. In Chinese these 6 sounds are all initials and each one from the different pairs makes the same sound. It is only when combined with a final that one can determine the meaning. For example, 'ch' + 'u' = chew and 'q' + 'u' = chu with the German uber sound. To an untrained ear these sound exactly the same; especially in everyday conversation. Once isolated they are easier to distinguish but you need the kind of thoughtful and helpful tutor eChineseLearning will provide.
The apparent challenge and potential for making mistakes while learning to write the characters seems so obvious that they shouldn't even rate a mention. To an unknowing eye the all look the same - give or take - and they are not phonetic so the characters in themselves aren't really connected to the sounds. When learning them it is easy to take a random approach to drawing them. I mean, why not? As long as it looks the same it is the same, right? That's the catch, it won't look the same and your writing will end up looking like an infant wrote it using a crayon or something worse. The stroke order, as it is called is actually quite important; you can ask your eChineseLearning instructor to explain why during your free trial lesson if you want.
Finally there is the grammar. For the people whose first language is English that are trying to learn Chinese they very quickly notice that the grammar doesn't really match up when they are trying to translate in their head. It isn't exactly opposite but they use a word order that is different than English. In a simple sentence such as: 'Wo chi le jiao zi.' 'I ate dumplings.' The word order is the same and so is the grammar but in a slightly more complex sentence 'Wo zi li tai re.' '.' It is too hot in the room - is how it would appear as a translated sentence but the direct translation would be 'Room in too hot.' This sentence is missing some English grammar features; notably the lack of a verb. If you are a student who is lacking adequate instruction you might be tempted to write or say the sentence in Chinese but with English grammar, such as 'Ta shi tai re le zai wo zi' which is of course not really a Chinese sentence and would be not understood by a Chinese person.
Finally, another difference that is hard for learners to understand is that Chinese verbs do not have tense as they might in English. When discussing time relationships in Chinese a speaker must add time related characters like le/guo. These are very easy to overlook when speaking and especially easy to miss when writing.
Chinese and English have a lot in common but there is also a lot that is different. If you are not paying close attention or you are ignoring your teacher, you will make many mistakes, so your Chinese will sound off. Seek quality instructors at eChineseLearning then dedicate yourself to improving your skills and you will be pleased with the results.
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